Are
we the next Flint?
What happened in Flint, Michigan was bound to happen
somewhere, sometime. The origins of this disaster can be traced to the Reagan
revolution that brought about the mantra that the government isn’t the
solution, but the problem. This mantra embodies three important principles.
The first is that there is a direct correlation between how
much services we receive and how much taxes we pay. The less taxes, the less
services (small government).
The second is that government bureaucracies are less
efficient than private ones, and therefore we should outsource to the private
sector whatever we can.
The third is that all public goods—from roads to natural
resources and defense—should be privatized in one way or another: either sold
off or users should pay fees (Milton Friedman and the Chicago School).
The first principle is indisputable: CS comes in seventh
among the 15 lowest-taxed cities in the US (Nick Wallace, SmartAsset). You
might have noticed the unplowed streets with any snowfall, and the need for a tax
increase to fix potholes.
The second principle is more problematic since it’s unclear
if the issue is the inefficiency of bureaucracies, private of public, or that
public are worse than private ones. But we should notice that at times
inefficiencies relate to redundancies that save lives than to simple laziness.
The third one is the most interesting, as we have seen it
play out in Flint. Should all decisions about and public goods themselves be
privatized? We agreed during the Iraq War to hire Blackwater “mercenaries” to
help fight the war; we also procured the private services of Cheney’s
Halliburton (that eventually moved its headquarters to Dubai).
Were these moves the most “efficient” or merely the most
expedient?
The lead-poisoning in Flint reminds us that the only way privatization
works is if it’s accompanied by strict regulation—to ensure the health and
safety of those affected.
But the age of deregulation that began with the Clinton
Administration and has continued into the Bush and Obama Administrations has
brought about not only the banking bubble and the Great Recession, but now the cruel
effects of water poisoning in Flint.
What the headlines make clear is that perhaps the water
problems in Flint were ignored because its population is poor and made up of
minorities. Here is an example of how the outrage over income and wealth
inequalities isn’t simply a philosophical query but instead relates to
conditions that lead to health hazards.
As the facts are still being uncovered, it becomes clear
that first, we cannot trust outsourced government performance—when cutting
costs is achieved at the cost of people’s health—and second, that we shouldn’t
wait till it’s a catastrophe to pay attention. Regulators and journalists,
politicians and activists should heed complaints and investigate before it’s
too late.
What about the health hazards perpetrated by our own
Utilities? We finally got City Council (its board) to agree to close the Martin
Drake power plant within 20 years. In the meantime, is our health at risk? Are
we listening to Leslie Weise, an attorney with special expertise in
environmental issues? Will she become a sainted crusader when the health issues
associated with Drake become national news?
The community within a mile or two of Drake is more than
30% minority, more than 29% below the poverty level, and of such overall low
income that one wonders if their health means less to CSU and its Board than
the health of those living in more affluent sections of the city. Air quality
around Drake doesn’t meet EPA standards; but CSU is reluctant to act.
Colorado Open Records Act has been used on numerous
occasions by attorney Weise and others, but CSU’s attorneys redact most
documents and refuse to share their findings about the level of toxins that
plague the Drake area. Isn’t it their civil duty to be as transparent as
possible? As we saw in Flint, time is not a luxury sick kids and their parents
can afford.
Likewise, the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment seems to be uninterested in shutting down the plant or holding CSU
to the standards enjoyed by the rest of the state, granting extensions and more
studies. The EPA is also slow to respond to mandates than one would expect of a
regulatory body.
Is this similar to what happened at Flint? What will it
take for more vigorous and timely regulation of our city-owned CSU? Councilman Leigh,
if you recall, was politically blackballed and threatened with lawsuits.
Would CSU behave this way if Drake were in close proximity
to the Broadmoor? We can avoid following in the footsteps of Flint.
Raphael
Sassower is professor and chair of philosophy at UCCS. He can be reached at rsassower@gmail.com See previous
articles at sassower.blogspot.com
